Old Knights
by Knights in Blue
Summary: Carter Knight, former Major of the mercenary group Knight's Chevaliers, went into an early retirement on a planet in the Periphery less than half a decade ago. But when pirates attack his city, he's dragged back into the action by the very merc group he started and left
1. Chapter 1

Carter Knight could feel his eyelids getting heavy, but continued to fiddle around with the equipment and machinery laid out in front of him. A few meters away, lit dimly by the makeshift mechbay's lighting, stood his personal,Phoenix Hawk PHX-1b, shining in steel grey with gold trimmings, and the remnants of a painted-over and scratched-away emblem on its right shoulder.

The mech had taken some light damage during the last skirmish with the pirate forces attempting to raid the small town he was currently residing in, and due to its distance from the planetary spaceport, and the fact that he mostly worked on his mech alone, it was hard to get anything past minor armor repair and maybe once a year he could get replacement armor plates.

He finished touching up his latest project, a prosthetic leg, then stood up and stretched, the sound of his bones cracking echoing throughout the mechbay. He checked his watch; he had another patrol with the town militia in a few hours, and he would rather not be sweaty before he put on his coolant vest. As he walked out of the mechbay, he absentmindedly clutched at the base of his neck; grasping nothing, he shook his head and made his way to the exit

* * *

Stephanie waited listlessly in her clinic, playing around with a small device. Soon, the patient resting on the hospital bed beside her groaned and woke up. His eyes scanned the room slowly, and eventually his eyes reached her. The man stared for a while, then seemed to recognize her; as soon as he did, he groaned

"Ah crud, what happened?"

Stephanie smiled weakly. "You're fine, captain. Your patrol was ambushed in the middle of a meal break, and even though the explosion was some distance away from your unit, a piece of debris knocked you unconscious. Carter was able to scare them off, and carried you along with the other casualties."

The militia captain sighed. "Good...good… the others?"

"They're fine… you were the... most injured"

"I see…"

Stephanie waited a bit more, making sure that the man had fallen back asleep. She bit her lower lip; he might not have noticed yet but if he had bothered to look underneath his blanket, he would've found that he was missing a considerable chunk of left leg. She looked at the table at the opposite side of the room

Sitting there, shining unevenly, was the prosthetic leg Carter had fangled together from bits and pieces. Some odd coating - probably to protect it from rust and such - shined unevenly in patches across the dull steel. Right beside it lay the attachment hook that she'd have to surgically attach to the captain's leg.

She paused, and looked at the prosthetic leg again. It wasn't professionally made, by any means, but looking at how it was built, it was easy to tell it was built competently, by someone who knew what he was doing - which begged the question: who exactly was Carter?

She unconsciously brought her other hand to her chest, grasping at the dog tags hanging from her neck, a gift from Carter; though in true Carter fashion, he hadn't given it to her directly - it had just suddenly shown up on her desk at the clinic.

The metal was smooth, with her name written on it along with the codename "Golden." The number 343539 was also there, just below her name - an ID number, she supposed.

* * *

Most of the time, Carter served as the militia's only mechwarrior, and while Stephanie was unsure as to exactly how much maintenance went into keeping the mech in good condition, Carter served as his own mechtech and definitely was skilled with mechanics; his expertise extended elsewhere as well, as evidenced by the prosthetic leg he had managed to create.

While being the only mechwarrior available definitely earned him some respect, it didn't help make many friends; he didn't talk too much, or at all sometimes, and you could physically feel his discomfort at any of the social gatherings he was invited to - he would always be found either in some secluded area, drinking slowly and staring upwards at the sky, and once someone had cornered him and started talking to him, his responses were short, even monosyllabic sometimes.

She remembered the day Carter had shown up 7-8 years ago his mech striding in from the direction of the spaceport. The militia had been panicking then - an unknown mech in unknown colors was marching towards them, without any announcement. They were all scrambling for SRM packs and anti-mech weapons when one of the spotters started yelling at everyone to stand down, and that it wasn't hostile.

The mech had walked in, and with a closer look, it was revealed to be battle scarred, with paint scratched, dents and craters all over its armor, and a heavily damaged faceplate, apparently having been attacked several times on its way to the town. The militia had guided it to an empty warehouse in front of Stephanie's house, and quickly rigged together a makeshift mechbay.

As soon as the mech was in position, it had powered down, and the hatch opened, revealing a half-dead Carter inside. The militia engineers attempted to repair the mech while others carried an unconscious Carter to Stephanie's clinic.

Stephanie remembered that day well; she had been relaxing quietly in her office, when suddenly armed militia ran in, carrying a half dead man on a stretcher and asking her to treat him as soon as possible. They stripped him down, and she remembered them throwing a pair of dogtags into the pile of clothes they had removed.

She remembered looking at Carter looking like he was on the verge of death, scars all over his body and multiple broken bones and bruises. Carter himself looked relatively fit, though some fat was starting to accumulate on his stomach. His hair was dark, but there were some grey hairs here and there.

She remembered that while she was administering aid, Carter suddenly woke up, and she could see his eyes quickly scanned the room, then relaxed, and she saw a mixture of relief and grief on his face, right before he passed out again.

* * *

The - pirate? She wasn't too sure - attacks had been increasing in frequency and intensity recently, and the town militia had responded in kind by doing the same with their patrols - unfortunately, all that really did was increase the amount of patients the clinic received on a weekly basis

As she was debating whether or not to blow off work tomorrow and have one of the other medtechs take over, she noticed the water in one of the nearby vases started to ripple a little, and after a while she could feel the ground shaking

Despite the number of injured militia, and the amount of paperwork she had to do, she couldn't stop the corner of her lip from twitching upwards a little

Everyday, without fail, as soon as Carter finished the afternoon patrol, he'd head straight to her clinic, and give her a ride on his mech's palm back to her house

She told the nurse on duty to tell the next medtech that she might be out tomorrow, then gathered her things and headed for the front door. The rumbling had slowly gotten stronger over time, and soon enough Stephanie found opening the clinic doors to the sight of Carter's mech strolling towards her down the path's gravel road. The mech's dull gray paint with gold trimmings was a stark contrast to the town's mostly brightly colored glass-and-steel buildings, which made it stand even more, even given the fact that it was the only mech that ever showed up in the town.

As the mech got closer, Stephanie waved at the cockpit. A hatch opened, and Carter peeked out, waving back. After a while he disappeared back into the mech, and closed the hatch. The mech lowered it's closed hand to the ground, and after a short while, the palm opened. Stephanie climbed on, dropping her bag into a small compartment Carter had managed to install into/carve out of the hand. There were some other objects inside, but as always, Carter left just enough space for her bag. She settled into the mech's palm, and the mech stood up, and made its way to their houses.

* * *

Just out of the planet's orbit a Mule class dropship made its way towards the planet. From within the confines of its control room, Igni wiped his face free of sweat and yelled at the room in general to get them planet-side at top speed

After a while, he switched the comline to the living quarters

"Paladin, get your Hawk ready for a hot drop; we've finally found the old bastard, like hell are we gonna let some upstart mercs kill him off"

There was a short pause, and a voice responded

" _Hrmmmm ok"_

Igni looked to the rest of the bridge crew and the status monitors around him. They would hotdrop Claide right outside of the town where Carter was supposed to be, then continue on to the spaceport. It would take some time before they could disembark their other mechs, especially since they'd have to explain to the planetary authorities why they hot dropped a mech, and why they were unloading another lance more.

* * *

Carter rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and powered up the Phoenix Hawk. It was early in the morning, and unfortunately, Carter had missed his alarm, meaning he woke up far too late for him to have his usual morning tea and breakfast. He yawned, and pushed the mech forward, out of its mechbay, and onto the path outside his house. The ground rumbled beneath his mech's feet, and signaled the neighbors that still hadn't woken up that it was time to wake up. Several doors opened, and people rushed out quickly, half-panicked, late for whatever they had to do. Carter took a quick peek at the house across his, but it seemed empty. He smiled a little, then shook his head. He headed towards the militia base - morning patrol would be in a few more hours.

While on his way to the militia base, he saw a telltale glint of light reflecting off of metal somewhere in the hills to the north. He frowned - there should be nothing there, and the spaceport was somewhere to their east. He almost stopped to look at it, but the morning patrol had opened up their radios and set to his frequency; the NCO was playfully yelling at him to get there faster.

* * *

Carter kept the Phoenix Hawk cruising along the dirt road. The lands surrounding the settlement were mostly composed of green fields and hills, with the occasional tree scattered around. There was little cover for the infantry men, and in the case of an ambush they were forced to hide behind Carter's mech or stand there and die. Standing still for the troopers went against every fiber of Carter's training, but he had managed to do so before.

The patrol had been routine, nothing popping up on any of Carter's sensors, and having had missed his breakfast, Carter was feeling sluggish

Carter yawned, momentarily bringing his hand off the joystick to cover his mouth.

By bad luck, the instant he did, he heard the loud roar of an explosion nearby, and a bright flash appeared over one of the hills.

Bringing his mech to a sprint up the hill, Carter came across the rear of a lance of Harasser hovercraft, firing their SRMs down at one of the patrol convoys.

An azure beam of man-made lightning shot straight across from his mech to his targets, accompanied by a pair of bright green ones. The PPC struck, along with one of the medium lasers. The PPC had struck the lead hovercraft, melting armor, and piercing straight through to the internals. The on board fans melted, and the slagged metal was flung all around the vehicle as it crashed to the ground. The first medium laser hit the edge of another hovercraft, melting through some of the armor but ultimately leaving the hovercraft intact. One of the hovercraft - one he hadn't hit - turned and fled, and soon the others followed. The surviving militia quickly reorganized themselves to take care of the wounded and detain the hostiles that had bailed from the hovercraft Carter had destroyed.

One of the troopers waved a quick salute to Carter, then moved off to assist the others. Carter adjusted his communications to the town's command frequency

"HQ, this is patrol Juggernaut, I've rendezvoused with patrol leader and helped them fight off an ambush; the wounded are headed back now," Carter added the last bit as he saw one of the militia's own hovercraft take off with the wounded.

" _HQ copies, we'll have the docs work on them priority 1. You and leader resume patrol_ "

"Juggernaut copies" Flipping on his external mics he told the patrol group HQ's orders, then headed off to continue his patrol route.

 _Another day, another couple of fools_

As soon as he said those, he realized that the majority of the fools who attacked never bothered to retreat before… _something's up_

* * *

The next morning, Stephanie was up early and getting into the neighborhood's hoverbus before it headed into the main bulk of the town. The morning patrol wouldn't be up yet for a few more hours, but she felt it important to begin fixing up her equipment. As the bus drove away from her street, she took one more look at the house across hers, as well as the giant hangar-like doors behind them.

Behind those doors stood Carter's mech, and occasionally she had been able to catch glances of a scratched off emblem of sorts on the mech's right shoulder. She shook her head. More mysteries about Carter, nothing new.

* * *

The bus came to an abrupt stop just before it turned the corner towards Stephanie's clinic, jolting her awake. As she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and the pain from her forehead, she became aware of the sound of gunfire, as well as screaming and an explosion.

She looked up just in time to see the windows at the front of the bus explode inwards as bullets broke through them. Ducking back down in her seat, she heard the rest of the windows breaking as well as more screams as the people around her were cut down, including the man who had been seated next to her. As she crouched down in her seat, she felt the weight of the man shift onto her back. The man's corpse weighed down on her heavily, effectively pinning her in place while she was hidden underneath him.

The nearest source of gunfire stopped abruptly, and Stephanie heard footsteps quickly enter the bus and exit. Still stuck underneath the dead man, she wondered what the hell was going on, and prayed it would end soon. As soon as she was sure that the footsteps and gunfire were some distance away, she struggled to get the dead man off of her.

As soon as she was able to stand up and carefully make her way to the exit, she felt tremors in the ground, and she couldn't help but grin - Carter must be nearby. She got out of the bus and made her way to her clinic.

After barricading the front doors with one of the heavy tables in the waiting room, she ran upstairs and hid herself behind her desk. She had a clear view of the outside from a window to her left, and as the tremors got stronger and closer, she took a peek.

She didn't recognize the model, but the mech she saw was not Carter's -

It was much, much bigger.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey folks, just wanted to say again this is a rewrite

After rereading what I had written, I realized that a) i really disliked the way I had written it, and b) I know next to nothing about the FC civil war, so c) time for a re-write. Enjoy!

* * *

Carter woke up to the sound of gunfire in the distance, his eyes opening wide as soon as he recognized it. Skipping his usual morning ritual for the second day in a row, Carter put on what might have passed as a flight suit to the casual observer, and rushed to his mech. The scaffolding he had used for maintenance last night was still in the way, but it helped make his ascent to the cockpit faster.

Seating himself into the cockpit, he pulled the neurohelmet over his head and quickly began the start-up sequence. The computer's synthesized voice - usually one he made to resemble that of a close friend, but now it resembled Stephanie's - spoke.

" _When does darkness begin for the Cavalry?_ "

Carter took a deep breath as he readied himself for whatever was happening up in the city.

"Knight-fall"

* * *

Stephanie pulled her legs closer to herself as she hid behind her makeshift barricade. The mech - she was sure it was a mech, at least - had to be the cause of the deep roaring and explosions she could hear occasionally. It hadn't passed by her clinic anymore, so she couldn't get a better look at it, but the tremors each step made and the sheer size of it made her completely sure it was much bigger than Carter's

At the thought of Carter, she brought her hand to her chest, and grasped her dog tags. She closed her eyes, wondering when Carter would be able to arrive; there hadn't been anyone coming in to her clinic to check on survivors, so she wasn't sure which way the battle was going - then again, the giant walking death machine probably meant the militia was losing, she thought grimly. There hadn't been any gunfire or explosions nearby for maybe a couple of hours now, and the sounds were getting further and further away each minute.

She tried to peek out the window towards the militia HQ, when suddenly the ground shook again, the tremor much more violent this time. Having lost her balance and falling back to the floor, she stood up again and peeked once more out the window.

The familiar shape of Carter's mech started to pull itself out of the wreckage surrounding it, and tried to stand up. Stephanie could feel the relief exploding in her chest - things would be alright. She was halfway pulling open the window to try to catch his attention when she noticed that the ground was starting to tremble once again - but Carter hadn't even begun to start walking around.

Stephanie quickly stood back from the window just as something made its way around the corner. Carter, still half stuck in the wreckage surrounding him, quickly transferred the mechs weight onto its left arm and aimed its right arm at the direction of the sudden movement.

There was a split second of silence, and from Stephanie's point of view Carter seemed to calm down; the mech's arm lowered ever so slightly, but was still pointed at whatever threat was around the corner

" _Identify yourself"_

Carter's low pitched voice came loud and clear from his mech's external speakers, but the direction the sound came from startled Stephanie; the sound was coming from whatever was around the corner, not the mech she could see from her spot inside the building

* * *

Carter kept his Phoenix Hawk's right arm aimed at the unidentified Phoenix Hawk in front of him, but risked a peek at the building behind it to its right.

Stephanie's clinic was mostly unharmed, save a few broken windows, and he could clearly see the makeshift barricade she must have erected when the fighting began. There were some bullet holes in the outer wall at ground level, as well as a few corpses strewn here and there along the road. Looking at his surroundings, he could see the hoverbus that regularly passed their neighborhood behind him to his right, windows shattered and blood sprayed around the edges. _She must have walked in from there_

A shift in movement brought his attention back to the unidentified mech immediately. The mechwarrior had dropped the mech's right arm down, bringing all of its guns away from Carter. There was a short span of silence, in which Carter let himself quickly scan the other mech. _Same colors, same paint scheme… even has the emblem patch on the shoulder… wait, there's no way -_

Carter's thoughts were interrupted by a voice suddenly speaking through a direct com

" _Carter? Is that you?_ "

Carter blinked. _No bloody, fucking way._ He switched over to the frequency the voice had come from

"I said, identify"

There was a sigh on the other side

" _Paladin reporting sir._ "

Carter groaned in disbelief

"How in the hell… you know what, doesn't matter now. Where are the rest?"

" _Still unloading sir. Foxtrot lance will be with us soon_ "

"Foxtrot?"

" _Well, ever since the… incident, some of us didn't feel comfortable with the lance assignments_ "

"Who's new?"

" _Some astechs, some crewmen quit, we hired new ones, nothing major_ "

"No mechwarriors or aerospace pilots?"

" _The screening process was... missing sir_ "

Carter grumbled a little then looked back at the building behind Claide's mech

"Look, I don't know how you cunts have found me or why you've gone here, but while you're here, help me with the pirates now would ya"

" _They're not pirates, but yes sir_ "

Carter brought his mech past Claide's and put its hand down to the half open window of Stephanie's clinic. Opening the mech's palm, he switched to external speakers once more

"Stephanie, it's clear"

After a short delay, the window opened fully and Stephanie's figure climbed out and onto the mech's palm. Bringing the hand up to the mech's neck, Carter opened the hatch up top and waited for Stephanie to climb inside.

Before he could even react, Stephanie rushed in and squeezed him, slightly trembling the whole time.

"Steph, what the he-"

Stephanie cut him off with a punch to the arm

"OW! What the fuck did I-"

"Shut up alright, just... Leave me be for a bit"

Even though the neurohelmet limited his movement within the cockpit itself, and to a small degree, lightly hampered his hearing, Carter could tell Stephanie was shaking. For a while, he wondered what was her problem, then he realized; Stephanie was only a doctor. Sure, she had seen some badly injured people on her operating table, as well as seen some of her patients die right in front of her, but she'd probably never seen someone get gunned down in front of her.

" _Carter? What's going on in there?_ "

Carter put his arm around Stephanie to try and comfort her

"We're fine, Claide… she just needs some time to calm down"

" _Copy_ "

* * *

Stephanie took a sip from the small water bottle Carter had given her, and tried to ignore the queasy feeling in her stomach as the cockpit bobbed up and down with the mech's steps. She rarely got motion sickness, but right now she felt like puking her guts out.

She was seated in the rumble seat behind Carter, and looking back over his seat she could see that Carter seemed as calm as ever, except for some slight fidgeting on his fingers. Sitting in the cockpit, she realized just how bumpy mech rides could be, and appreciated Carter for keeping the mech's hand steady whenever she used to sit on it.

"You ok back there?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm ok..."

"We're almost at the rendezvous point; we'll be off planet soon enough"

 _Off planet?_

"Wait, I thought we were going somewhere safe?"

"While you were out cold a while back, I managed to raise some of the militia survivors on comms; they've confirmed that nearly every major settlement is under attack. Nowhere safe on planet anymore"

Stephanie's shoulders slumped. This town was one thing, maybe another town or two was another thing as well, but the entire planet? That was something else entirely

"Wha...What? How?"

"One of your neighboring pirate empires decided they needed some land and a few more slaves"

" _They've even hired some upstart mercenaries to add some more firepower as well_ "

Stephanie jumped slightly at the strangers voice

"Uhhhh Carter?"

"Relax Steph. Claide, introduce yourself"

" _Hi miss, name's Claide. Been mercing with Carter for near two decades now_ "

"You guys are mercs?"

Even from behind Carter's command chair, Stephanie could tell that Carter had quietly clucked his tongue.

"It's… a long story Steph. I'll tell you once we're safe"

"If you say so"

* * *

Claide followed Carter's Phoenix Hawk, feeling slightly jealous of the 1b model he was piloting. His own PXH-1 was basically a downgraded version; the heatsinks were half as effective, and the heavier frame, engine and armor meant that his mech was short a PPC compared to Carter's.

From the occasional muttering and he could hear over the comms, he could tell that Carter was talking to the civilian he had come to pick up when they had made contact.

Well, 'talking' was a bit of a stretch whenever it came to Carter, with few exceptions. Although they weren't talking that loudly and he could barely hear the exact words, he could tell that for every question the girl asked, Carter would give nothing more than the minimum for an answer. He could tell the girl was starting to get annoyed, but he could also tell that Carter was trying to keep her as calm as possible. Something was off with Carter's voice though… there was something in it that he'd never heard in it before. He shrugged it off as a side effect of Carter's 'retirement.'

Claide's thoughts were disturbed by an incoming message from the _Castle_

" _Claide, you find him yet?_ "

Before he could respond, Carter cut into the frequency

" _I_ knew _you'd be using this frequency. Mind telling me what the fuck's going on? I know I won't be getting it from Claide_ "

"Hey!"

" _You know what I mean_ "

There was a heavy sigh on the frequency

" _I'll tell you when you get over here Carter - in the meantime stay close to Claide, and make your way to the rendezvous_ "

Claide could hear Carter grumbling over the com line, as well as quiet chuckling from his onboard guest - having him be told what he's been telling her this whole time must be very satisfying.

" _I don't like this one bit Central_ "

Claide could feel a part of his arm twitch at Carter's sudden switch to codenames. Igni's response after a short while told him he felt something similar as well.

" _Head north bearing 56 degrees east_ "

" _Copy. Paladin, follow behind me_ "

"If - Yes Sir"

Claide brought the gap between him and Carter to 30 meters and continued to follow behind him at the same pace. They continued through the town's destroyed roads and buildings for another couple of hours, nearing the eastern edge just as the sun started to reach the horizon. Claide could hear quiet munching over the comline, as well as the occasional sip.

"You have food stored in there?"

There was a short choking sound before Carter replied

" _Yeah, I've stuffed some emergency supplies here in the cockpit; I haven't eaten breakfast so I got some out"_

"Fair enough"

Having had food brought to his attention, Claide became keenly aware of the emptiness of his stomach - his pre-drop routine had made him forget all about breakfast

* * *

Just as they passed the last few buildings before reaching the fields of farmland the town had used to sustain itself, the sound of twin PPC bolts roared and echoed across the buildings, and Claide saw the two bright blue bolts impale the legs of Carter's mech, the impact making the mech lose its balance, toppling over before Carter could recover.

"Central we've been engaged! Where the hell is Foxtrot?"

As he turned around to face the threat, Claide could hear the two people in the fallen mech yelling and cursing over the open com line. Down the street stood a massive, oddly shaped mech... one that looked very familiar.

Claide fired the large laser in his mech's pistol grip, the blue laser searing armor off of the Marauder II that had fired at them. The laser had struck across the Marauder's torso, barely missing the faded emblem of the Knight's Chevaliers mercenary group painted on it.

Claide slammed his feet onto the pedals, the Marauder's PPC bolts barely missing the rising mech. Amidst the roaring of his jump jets, he could hear Carter angrily muttering to the girl in his cockpit

" _And you didn't think it would be nice to tell me?!_ "

As soon as he hit the ground, the large laser perched across the Marauder II's torose swept across his chest, armor sizzling and melting off

" _And you, Claide, why the hell is that here!?"_

Behind him, the other Phoenix Hawk was finally getting to its feet, though it showed some damage taken from the fall

"Hahaha, about that..."

" _Bah, nevermind, just keep it busy till the others get here_ "

"Copy"

Claide had barely spoken his response when Carter's own PPC bolt flew past him, missing the hostile by less than a meter, causing the paint to boil and sizzle, but otherwise dealing no damage.

The Marauder responded in kind, its own PPC bolts racing through the air towards the pair of Phoenix Hawks. Before Claide could react, the charged particles impacted against his mech's arm.

* * *

Carter fired the large laser from within his mech's breast, his heat scale rising rapidly in response. The blue spear of light hit, melting armor off of the mech in front of him.

He murmured obscenities as the Marauder fired its medium lasers at him, carving chunks of armor off of his mech's legs.

Behind him, strapped into the rumble seat, Stephanie gripped her chair with white knuckles. Sensor screens all around him displayed damage assessments of himself, Claide's mech, and the Marauder II.

His own mech had taken heavy damage to the legs, as well as the front of his torso due to the fall. Claide's mech had multiple scars across its chest from the large laser, as well as a crater in its arm from a PPC hit.

The Marauder II standing in front of him had taken a single hit from Claide's own large laser, so in that it and Claide were almost even; the problem was that at more than twice of what each Phoenix Hawk weighed individually, and still out-massing them combined, being even wasn't enough.

"Yo-you sure the tw-two of you can't take it?" Stephanie asked worriedly, still gripping her chair with white knuckles.

"That thing outweighs us combined, has near half our tonnage in armor, and outguns either one of us… we just need to hold out till our friends get here"

Stephanie mumbled some prayers, which occasionally turned to swears when the heat in the cockpit rose, or when cockpit shook from weapons fire and hits.

Carter triggered his PPC again, and watched as the Marauder took it full force to the cockpit, the mech reeling back

 _How the fuck did I just -_

His thoughts were interrupted when Claide, who had disappeared around a building a moment before, reappeared behind the behemoth and fired his medium lasers and machine guns into its rear.

A cloud of smoke puffed into existence behind it, and the giant quickly turned around to face him. The bright green and blue of all of its lasers shone brightly, and in the fading daylight turned the street an eerie blue-green. Carter saw the beams scratch across Claide's mech, leaving deeper scars in its armor.

Following up Claide's attack, Carter fired everything but his PPC into the hole left in the Marauder's armor.

More of the behemoth's heat sinks were destroyed, leaving smoke drifting out of the mech's rear. As Carter moved to take cover and let his heat scale drop, the Marauder suddenly rose on jets of flame, and mid stride Carter saw it fire its large laser at him, and the bright blue was the last thing he saw before blacking out


	3. Chapter 3

Claide fired his large laser down the street, and turned around a corner just as a PPC bolt flew past him. Running down the street he had just turned onto, he briefly triggered his jump jets to rise over the fallen mech in his path.

Carter's Phoenix Hawk had been down for almost 3 minutes now, the duration of the time Claide had been running away from the Marauder II still trying to destroy him. Although going past it put it at harm of being stepped on and crushed by the Marauder, Claide had noticed that it had barely moved from its spot, deciding to just wait and react for Claide to pop up for another attack again instead of chasing him. Taking a quick glance at the fallen mech, Claide saw that the hatch was open, and despite the disturbance his mech made, there was a clear path through the rubble leading into one of the sturdier looking buildings.

Claide soon forgot about what he had seen as another PPC bolt flew past his cockpit, and he continued to run down and around the streets.

* * *

Stephanie dragged Carter's unconscious form further into the building, painfully aware of every groan that came out of his mouth. There were no obvious signs of major hurt from what she could see, but the fact that he had passed out was telling in and of itself. Around her, for what felt like hours but had really only been minutes was the occasional explosion and flying debris, as well as the odd laser show up above the buildings.

Looking down at Carter, what she saw quickly brought to mind the first time she had seen Carter, but this time she was more pressed for time. She couldn't tell what was wrong, and whoever was in Carter's lookalike mech would be hard pressed for time. She started checking his vitals, then checked for any bleeding. She shook her head in frustration; there was nothing outwardly wrong, so it was more likely that Carter had simply been knocked out by whatever had flashed against the cockpit. She had almost fallen unconscious herself from the sudden flash, but had managed to keep herself awake when her head had smacked against the back of her seat when the mech had fallen, the pain jolting her awake.

Sitting down beside Carter, she couldn't do anything but wait, and with each passing second and every flash of light outside she couldn't help but feel more and more worried. The ground shook with every step the two mechs took, and Stephanie could feel each and every one. After a while, she noticed that the ground shook more and more, with the intervals between each tremor shortening to almost nothing. Looking over at Carter, who had been moaning and murmuring most of the time, she saw that he had unconsciously began to smile.

* * *

Claide had started hearing voices in his cockpit yelling at him and calling for Carter; they were possibly from the comms, possibly from hallucinations - the latter had happened often enough recently that he wasn't really able to tell them apart. He had been riding the heat scale for almost a full 10 minutes now, risking ammunition explosions, internal structure damage, safety shutdowns, and heatstroke... though it was quite possible that he had already had a heatstroke. Firing his large laser one more time, Claide was suddenly surprised when every monitor in his cockpit and all his systems went down. _Damnit!_

Claide's peripheral vision caught sight of movement behind him, and he cursed out loud as he began fumbling for the ejection lever. Slick with sweat, his hand slipped off of the lever, and hearing the roar of a large-bore autocannon, Claide closed his eyes and began to accept death

 _Wait, what?_

Opening his eyes slowly, Claide saw the Marauder II tilt sideways into one of the buildings, the ground shaking as the full 100 tons collapsed onto the ground, smoke billowing from its cockpit. Around him, systems came online again as the heat dropped to tolerable levels. The short range communications system came online again, with several people shouting on the frequency

" _-s sake. Claide? Respond already!_ "

Claide sighed, relief coursing through his veins. Coming around the corner of one of the streets was Tarmin's Atlas.

"I'm fine, a few bruises and cuts."

" _Carter?_ "

"No clue… his hatch was open though. His… passenger, might have taken him out into one of the surrounding buildings to sit out the fight"

" _Passenger? What the hell is going o-_ "

"Stuff it, Tarmin. We're tired, alright?"

" _Alright, alright._ "

Claide could hear Tarmin speak a few words into the command frequency, but aside from that he couldn't do anything due to the heat exhaustion.

* * *

Stephanie held her breath. Some time ago, the weapons fire had been interrupted by a loud cracking sound, and then the ground shook as if something massive - one of the mechs, probably - had hit the ground. The silence had been occasionally broken by the sounds of mechs moving, but nothing else seemed to be happening.

After what felt like an eternity watching Carter's unconscious form, she heard the sound of footsteps moving around in the dark. Outside the window, white beams of light swept around the dark, illuminating what they passed over. Three of the beams settled over Carter's fallen mech, while the others turned to light up the surrounding street.

One of the beams approached the building they were hiding in, with the footsteps slowing down and moving quietly towards her. Carter was still lying down behind a cashier, with Stephanie squatting down on the ground beside him. After her initial search for harm on Carter's body, she had found a small pistol on a holster strapped to his thigh. She couldn't quite tell what kind of pistol it was; but she was sure which end to point at people.

The sound of footsteps was getting closer, and she heard the sound of rubble being kicked aside. Looking above her, the beams of light were already sweeping over the room, and the front door was kicked open. Stephanie quickly stood up and aimed the pistol at the door.

Before she could even say anything she was blinded by the beams of light being aimed directly at her face. She dropped the pistol, bringing her hands up to cover her face as the men behind the lights yelled at her to freeze. There was the sound of coughing from the ground beside her, and before she could even glance at Carter the men had dimmed their lights and rushed to check on him.

"Medic! We've got him!"

As her eyes started to readjust themselves to her dim surroundings, Stephanie got a better look at the troopers walking into the building. One of the men kept his rifle trained at Stephanie, while the others had crowded around Carter and were loading him onto a stretcher that, to Stephanie, seemed to have materialized from thin air.

"Hey - Hey! Be careful with him! He's - "

One of the men holding the stretcher glared as her as he walked past, prompting her to shut up. As they passed by, the one with the rifle bent down to pick up the pistol, then motioned for her to follow them.

"Name's Ron. You're Stephanie right?"

"Ye-yeah"

"Claide told us you'd be with him. Sorry about Ian by the way, he's not too kind to people telling him how to do his job."

"Ian?"

"The guy who glared at you. He's the head of our medical staff"

Stephanie wondered how the man who glared at her could be at all involved in a medical profession. He had seemed so… hostile

"Anyway," Ron said as he slung his rifle over his back "we've got to get going. The APC drivers don't like going anywhere without armored escort."

As Stephanie followed Ron out of the building she'd spent the last few hours watching Carter in, she saw people scrambling around Carter's fallen mech, a BattleMech Recovery Vehicle nearby waiting to load the mech onto it.

Stephanie struggled around the rubble strewn about the street, stumbling and catching herself every so often. Armed men hiding in buildings came out as they passed, nodding at Ron and taking up formation behind them. By the time they had reached an APC parked inside the ruins of a building, there was a gathering of men following them.

Ron walked into the APC, then looked at Stephanie and pointed at one of the chairs. Stephanie sat down as the platoon walked in and sat down as well. Ron talked to the driver and said something over the coms, then walked to the center of the APC and held on to a hand grip extending from the ceiling. Soon enough, the APC started rolling, and Stephanie could feel every bump in their path.

The infantrymen soon started talking to each other light heartedly, sharing stories or just cracking jokes. Stephanie found herself smiling at some of the jokes they made, though at some point her fatigue caught up to her, and she fell asleep.

* * *

Igni climbed down the stairs to the mech bays, watching the BRV carrying the Marauder II crawl up the ramp. Techs were already setting up one of the empty bays to repair the mech, and some were already working on the Phoenix Hawks that had arrived earlier. Igni leaned over the railings on the third level, watching techs scramble around carrying who-knows-what. Ron walked up and leaned against the railings beside him, the edge of a cigarette in his mouth glowing faintly.

"How're they?"

"Carter and Claide will be fine, just some neural feedback and some heatstroke. The girl's just fatigued as well, she just needs some time in bed and she'll be right as rain."

"Hrmph. You make it sound like heatstroke's a minor annoyance."

"Come on, you know it is in this line of business"

"To you folks and the mechwarriors, maybe. You know the support staff here rarely gets injured to that degree."

"That's true, I guess."

Ron took the cigarette out of his mouth and sighed, a cloud of smoke drifting out of his mouth and passing over Igni's face.

"Hey, come on now was that necessary?"

Ron chuckled "Sorry, sorry."

Below the two of them, a tech brought out a high-powered hose and dragged the nozzle towards the Marauder II, which had by this time already begun getting set up in one of the mechbays. The BRV that had been carrying it began to crawl down the ramp once more, turning once it hit the ground to get up the adjacent ramp into the vehicle bay.

"Hell of a day, huh, Igni?"

"Hah, you're telling me?"


	4. Chapter 4

Carter rarely dreamed, and sometimes when he did, he only realized it was a dream a few hours after he woke up. Rarely would he know it was a dream, like when something was too good to be true. Or when it was a memory he really, really, didn't want to remember.

 _Carter sat in his command couch, his hand pushing the throttle as far as it would go._

" _Fire lance, status?"_

" _We're taking hits, Templar. Fire-3 is barely operational and-"_

 _Carter winced as an explosion vibrated through comline, jarring his ears_

" _Damnit all! Fire-4, track his ejection pod, Carter, you'd best come here fast"_

" _We're trying, damnit! We just need you to hold out a little longer! Scout lance should be there in a few minutes!"_

* * *

Carter shifted when he heard someone in the room sneeze. Wincing as he tried to bring his hand to his face, he lowered the injured arm back to the bed underneath him. Looking around him, he saw the curtains surrounding his sick bed. _Wait, what?_

The faint beep of a monitor brought his attention to the table beside his bed. Someone had nodded off, snoring softly with their head resting on the side of his bed. An AC unit in the nearby wall created a gentle breeze, and looking through a gap in between the curtains pushed aside by the breeze, Carter could see an emblem painted on the wall above the doorway.

The image of a medieval knight's helmet, old and worn out, stared at him from above the door. The same symbol that had been on the Marauder II's torso, and the same symbol that had once graced the shoulder of Carter's Phoenix Hawk.

 _And will once again, apparently. Should've guessed Claide would get me out of there_

Carter fell backwards back onto his bed, tired from the short attempt at sitting up. Sighing as he hit the soft mattress, the person asleep beside his bed flinched, and slowly sat up straight, squinting as their eyes adjusted.

Carter forced his face to remain passive as Stephanie stared at him, not yet fully awake. After less than a second of blank staring, Stephanie moved her hand towards Carter... and slammed it fist closed into the bed.

"How long have you been awake?"

"I -"

"Why didn't you wake me up sooner?!"

"Hey now, listen, I -"

"Will you two shut up?! You're not the only patient here, Carter!"

One of the curtains parted and a man in scrubs came in, eyebrows creased in anger.

"Carter, Claide's in horrible condition as well, so I'll not have all your goddamn noise disturbing him. And you, lady, normally wouldn't even be allowed in here! I oughta kick you out of here if you keep making all this noise"

Carter chuckled, then winced in pain. "Look, Ian, I'm sorry, all right? We'll keep it down from here" Carter said, glancing at Stephanie.

"You'd better, for fucks sake."

Ian disappeared behind the curtains, and Carter turned his head to look at Stephanie, who had gone all quiet. Carter kept quiet, waiting for her to say something

"...You alright now? That Ian of yours wouldn't let me do any checks on you; insisted on doing everything himself"

"Hrm, yeah Ian's always been like that"

The room went quiet again, and before long Carter could tell that the atmosphere was turning awkward. He was fumbling around for something to say, when he heard Ian cuss, as well as the faint sound of movement somewhere above him. Sighing, Carter looked up at the vent placed on the wall above his bed.

"Claide, aren't you supposed to be in one of the other beds? You aren't gonna see anything here ya jackass"

The sound of something bumping metal came from within the vent, and it was pushed up on its hinges from inside. Claide's face poked through the gap, smiling sheepishly.

"You know I hate being stuck there Carter"

"Doesn't matter, now get back before Ian has Ron search the whole damn ship to drag you back"

Grumbling, Claide disappeared back into the vent, and soon enough they could hear Ian yelling at him. The edge of Carter's lips turned upwards in a half smile, and he could hear Stephanie quietly chuckle. _Thanks Claide_

"So, Stephanie, what's your plan now?"

Stephanie looked at him quizzically "What do you mean? You seem to be leaving with these guys, so I'll just make sure you're fine then I'll… go back… to… Oh"

"Aye, there isn't exactly much for you to go back to..."

One of the curtains was flung to the side and a group of men in what could be described as an odd mix between casual and combat ready clothes peeked in, with one of them walking in with a small grin on his face.

Carter tried to control the scowl he reflexively brought up when meeting people, but found himself already grinning at the sight of his crew.

"Igni! Nice to see you've finally dropped by, you fucking cunt"

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Stephanie twitch at the cursing, but elected to ignore it. The others outside the curtain, on the other hand, had started laughing loudly, with one of them passing a stack of cbills over to someone else. Igni had laughed as well, but his usually dark face had a tinge of red.

"Oh shut it Carter, we know you've just woken up. Feeling fine?"

"Ja, ja, I'm feeling fine, considering I've been half blinded and fell down roughly two stories. What brings you guys to this humble little planet I've been inhabiting?"

Igni smiled sheepishly, while someone else coughed. "There were rumors about some scumbag a jump out finding some mercs to take out any local defenders on this planet. Turns out, those mercs were one of our old pals."

Carter brought his hand - the other one was uninjured, apparently - to his face, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You mean to tell me that that actually _was_ my Marauder?"

"Haha, about that - "

"I don't think I want to know right now. How're things?"

"Well enough, all considering. No one's joined, no one's left, and we haven't lost anyone either"

 _No one's joined?_ "Fair enough. How long till we're back at Outreach?"

"Hrmm 4 to 5 months, give or take. Shall we launch?"

"Aye, but give me a bit. Head on back to work now, I'm fine. Shoo, ya fucks"

Some yelling and a few handshakes later, Carter was once again alone in the partitioned part of the medbay with Stephanie. A smile still on his face, he turned to Stephanie again

"Sorry about that. Real rowdy bunch, we are."

"No, you guys are fine. But what on Terra's happening? How do you know these guys?"

Carter looked at her with a raised eyebrow "I never told you? I'm a merc"

"Yeah, I know that, you told me yesterday in the mech"

"Yesterday, huh? I've been out for a while"

"Yeah but I mean… since when? And why the hell are you giving them orders?"

Carter paused for a bit, then chuckled "Anyway, seeing as your clinic is in ruins, you looking for a medical job?"

Stephanie gave a cautious smile "Don't suppose you can convince the bigwig here to hire me?"

"If you can stand our company, then sure"

"Not like I have a choice at this point. Where do I sign?"

* * *

Stephanie looked at the quarters the Igni fellow had led her to. The room was almost spartan, with nothing more than a chair, a desk, a bed, a mini fridge, and a small private bathroom. She threw her pack onto the chair and collapsed onto the bed. Since getting onto the dropship - the first time she had in her life - she had been waiting outside the medbay for Carter to get up.

Once that prick Ian had finally let her in to the medbay, muttering something about 'damned civvy doctors,' she had then spent the next few hours waiting _inside_ the medbay for Carter to get up. She had been surprised when she walked in - normally you hear about non-luxury dropships being barely hospitable, but the medbay here was well stocked and well kept. The metal walls shined, the floor looked spotless, and the shelves mounted on the walls seemed stocked. The whole area was massive, with somewhere near 60 sick beds and a few more partitioned areas nearer the walls. A sectioned off corner seemed meant for more… 'intense' treatments. Stephanie was hurried through the mostly empty bay and into one of the partitioned off rooms. Carter was still unconscious, though a quick scan of his charts showed that he'd be completely fine after some rest. There was a small side note saying something about excellent first aid treatment - something Stephanie smiled smugly at. After a while, Stephanie found that she had fallen asleep at the side of Carter's bed. Later, she had heard movement and groggily, to see Carter smiling at her. She had gotten flustered and reacted angrily, but she was glad he was alright.

Someone knocked on the door, and somehow causing something to fall from her pack onto the floor. Sighing, she went to pick up whatever it was that had fallen. "Just a minute!" Reaching down to the floor, she picked up the dog tags Carter had given her, the metal tags dimly reflecting the light from the ceiling. Smiling, she put the tags on the desk before going to the door.

Carter was standing by the doorway when the door slid open, fiddling with the dress uniform he had on. Stephanie stopped her jaw from dropping, then took another look at Carter.

As far as Stephanie knew, Carter owned nothing aside from militia fatigues, a single pair of casual clothes that he often slept in, and that jump suit of his; so seeing him in full dress uniform, gave her nothing short of a shock. The dark gray suit with subtle gold hints fit Carter's normally sullen, currently trying to suppress a scowl face well. A dozen or so medals were pinned to his chest, with a major's insignia showing proudly at his shoulder, under an emblem showing a knight's helm with signs of age.

Carter noticed the shocked look on her face and smiled apologetically, handing her a small package. "You'll get all your answers in a few minutes. There'll be a gathering in mechbay Alpha later; here, Jamison's been able to dig out something appropriate for you."

Stephanie took the package from Carter, feeling fabric inside. "What's going on?"

"Just about everyone wants to know what the hell I've been up to all these years… and some are gonna be mad I took the Phoenix Hawk after all."

"What? Why would they be mad? Isn't it yours?"

"Long story. Just… I'm sorry that all this had to happen to you. We'll do our best to make sure you adjust well"

"What?"

Carter feigned a look at his watch - which, Stephanie could see, didn't exist "Welp, time for me to go! Someone will be round here to lead you to the mechbay in maybe an hour or so"

Carter turned and started to bristly walk down the hallway, leaving Stephanie alone by her doorway

"Wait! Carter! Oh goddamnit"

Stephanie grumbled for a while, then retreated back into the room. The package was wrapped in manila paper - something Stephanie had only heard about in history class, further making her question what the hell was going on.

Pulling open the package, Stephanie pulled out a dress uniform that looked remarkably similar to Carter's, though with a sergeant's stripes instead of a major's, and there was a small red cross underneath. Sighing, she headed into the bathroom to change

* * *

Ron leaned against the cold wall of mechbay, watching the crown around him murmur and chatter. Despite how tightly packed the crowd was and how tense people were, the talk was all relaxed. Small talk and the occasional friendly kerfuffle was all over the place, no one showing any signs of panic. The only one acting like something was weird was Stephanie, who had decided to stand near him. Ron looked to the upper catwalk, the one around the bay where the Marauder II they had recently reacquired was standing, a gaping hole where it's cockpit should have been. Igni was chatting with Jamison about something, when a sudden lack of noise near the entrance caught their attention. Looking at the source, Ron could see Carter come in full dress uniform, something Ron thought he'd never see again… till he noticed the first few buttons weren't exactly closed and his hair wasn't exactly tidy.

The crowd gave him a bit too much space, likely making him feel like he was an outcast. Walking through the quiet crowd, Carter reached the stairway and climbed to the second level, stopping near Igni and Jamison, who were both smiling. Looking to the crowd, Carter coughed, then spoke in that low voice of his that occasionally came out.

"Nice to be home folks"

The crowd was silent for a bit till a small laugh started to spread from somewhere. Someone heckled

"Ain't nice to have you back major!"

There was a small gasp beside Ron, and he looked down to see Stephanie looking confused. He smiled

"You've picked a hell of a reference to join us miss"


	5. Chapter 5

Claide stretched as he got out of his bunk, glad to finally be free of the somewhat cramped quarters in the medbay. He slapped the off button on the alarm, and got up to head to the showers. The door slid open, and Claide stepped out into the hallway as the other rooms slid open. Waving at Briel as he walked past, he slung the towel and clothes over his back on his way to the showers.

It had been a few weeks since they had gotten Carter back, and they were already on their way to Outreach. The medbay had gotten a lot louder, with Ian yelling at every little mistake Stephanie made, and about halfway through the trip she had started yelling back. Claide and several others had chuckled when the yelling had started, knowing that Ian never yelled like that, and it was more than likely that he didn't know what to think of her.

As Claide reached to open the door to the showers, he was surprised with a rush of warm air and steam, and peeking in he could see one of the showers was steaming from water that took notoriously long to heat up.

"Carter? You out here this early?"

There was the sound of soap dropping, then Carter's annoyed voice rang out from the stall the clouds of steam were emerging from. "What do you want Claide?"

"I'm just here to take a shower boss"

"Yeah well I'm just about done. Want me to leave the water running?"

"Sure thing"

Claide sat down on one of the benches positioned in the middle of the shower room, waiting for Carter to come out.

Although everyone was glad to have Carter back, with several trying to reconnect with their old boss, the old coot was still a stealthy hermit, and several times people looking for him had passed right by him without noticing, only for one of the senior staff to sigh and call their attention to him. Stephanie seemed to be the only non-senior staff member who could spot him in the hallways, several times looking at him in confusion when a group that was looking for him walked right past him. He walked around the halls without anyone recognizing him, but most of the time he was supposedly holed up in his office.

Claide nodded at Carter as he exited the stall, and went in to take advantage of the already hot water. In the time it took Claide to strip down and twist the handle for the water, he could already feel that Carter had disappeared from the room.

* * *

Jamison, the Chevalier's chief Tech, sighed as he threw the paper down onto his desk. The AC/20 round Tarmin had put through the Marauder's cockpit had been helpful enough when the jocks had been trying to save Carter, but it wasn't too kind to the technical teams that had to patch it up afterwards. The cockpit itself had to be completely pulled out, no surprises there, but the annoying thing was that the round had gone just past that and into the main torso, barely missing the engine. It was a nightmare to get the round out and repair the damage it had caused, and they still had to wait till they got to Outreach to start looking around for replacements for the cockpit itself, which would be a logistical nightmare. Aside from that, the Ferro-Fibrous armor on Carter's Phoenix Hawk would need replacing, and while somewhat easier to comeby now than it would have been 5 years ago, would still be annoying as all hell to find, even on Outreach.

In the meantime, there was nothing to be done, but the thought of it was already haunting him. He had already written a few of the forms he'd need, but aside from that his teams had nothing to do. Everything had been stripped down for transport and wouldn't need maintenance till they were in use again. The _Castle_ may have been retrofitted to their needs, but even with the empty mechbays they had 'temporarily' turned into a physical recreation area of sorts, there wasn't much to do in the way of recreational activities.

While he was debating what to do, the door to his office slid open, letting in one of his techs. Julia had started just before Carter had left them, but she had been a great help in the singular deployment they had without him. Tarmin had caught the brunt of an ambush to keep everyone else out of it, and she had done most of the work to keep the damned beast running till they were able to patch it back up completely.

She was cute too, Jamison just had to admit.

"Something on your mind Julia?"

She sat on the couch opposite Jamison's desk, sighing when she sat down - the walk up to his office from the ground floor was nothing to scoff at.

"Hey boss, nothing much, but the crew have been wondering when they'd get to start patching up the BS? The old hands are happy to have it back afterall"

"Nothing's official till we get to Outreach and start asking around for parts, they should know that much"

"I told them as much, but they insisted"

Jamison chuckled. "Must be cause Carter's back. Those fools never could read him"

"James?"

"Nothing, nothing. Want to grab some lunch?"

Julia blinked, then looked at her watch. Jamison was right - it was about lunch time, according to the ship's time cycle, anyway. "Sure, I guess. What was that about Carter?"

"It's nothing, trust me… say, you've never met him, have you?"

"Nope, I didn't even know he existed till the XO put us on combat readiness and went full thrust for (insert planet name)"

"NEVER, let Igni hear you say the words 'full thrust'. Anyway, let's talk about it over some food. I'm starving, for Christ's sake"

* * *

Carter gulped down the last of his tea when the door to the mess hall opened, revealing Jamison and - Carter assumed - one of his technicians. There was a look on Jamison's face that made Carter instantly suspicious; Jamison was almost always smiling, but the smile on his face now was something else. They were talking - probably something about the inner workings of one of the mechs, Carter thought - when Jamison spotted him before he could

"Ser! Good to see you"

Carter raised his mug in salute, then made to leave, but Jamison sat down in front of him before he could get away and motioned for him to stay seated. Grumbling, he got comfortable again and poured himself some more tea.

"What do you need?"

Jamison motioned to the girl, and Carter noticed he was trying - and failing - to suppress his smile. She sat down beside Jamison, and Carter suddenly realized she was new to the crew, probably one of the few they had had to replace after he had disappeared.

"Sorry, I've just realized you must be new here. Must've missed your file when I checked the crew list… good to meet you miss…?"

"Julia"

"Right, well, glad to have you onboard" Turning to Jamison, his eyebrow raised. "Now, you haven't exactly told me what it is you want"

Jamison blinked, then looked thoughtful for a second. He shook his head "I can't actually remember."

Carter growled, prompting Jamison to decide quickly whether he needed something or not.

"Nothing I guess. See you later for sims?"

"Unless something pops up. See you"

Carter stood up quietly, grabbed his mug and made his way out of the mess. Some of the crew stared quizzically at him, wondering who he was, or if he was actually Carter, while the ones who knew him relatively well nodded as he passed. Thankful for the lack of attention, Carter had made it back to his quarters by the time the last tech had finished his lunch break.

Carter stretched as he slipped into his room, the sound of his joints cracking loud against the relative quiet of the room. His desk sat in the corner, a few dozen stacks of paperwork and files resting on top in a haphazard fashion. _Igni's full of shite… ' just a few new hands' my ass_

He sighed, and shuffled through the folders til he found the girl's. Slipping it out of the stack, he inspected the file

 _Julia Yalden. Joined just after I left, did she? Something's off._

* * *

Stephanie scowled as she put the medicine back into its drawer, Ian yammering his head off somewhere behind her.

The past few weeks - no, it had been months at this point - had been spent learning her way around the medbay… or as much as she could with Ian yelling at every little mistake she made. And the other medtechs and doctors weren't helpful either, chuckling at all of his outbursts or flat out giggling like school girls. Why?

She shoved the drawer back into its place, and looked at the onboard clock - time for her shift to end, and time to find Carter. It had been weeks, and she hadn't seen him around since he gave his return speech. There were several times she thought she'd seen him around the walkways, but no one ever seemed to think it was him, leading her to think he had a lookalike on board. In any case, she could barely stand what was going on in the medbay, and she wanted to talk to Carter about alternatives.

The door closed behind her, with the last of Ian's words cut off. The medbay had been placed within the living quarters of the ship, and all around her were corridors leading to single and double rooms for the various crew members. There were a few people milling about, and while some of them looked familiar, none of them made any overt reactions to her presence, so she just walked past. She had no idea where she could find Carter, but that lookalike of his must know something, she supposed. Turning a corner, she saw someone she recognized as one of the mechwarriors, talking quietly with Ron. Waving at them, she walked closer.

They didn't notice her at first, and she was able to catch the tail end of their conversation before they waved back

"That's unacceptable. I have half a mind to talk to Carter about this before you… oh hey, it's Steph. Need something?"

"Hey Ron. What were you guys talking about?"

The tall lanky mechwarrior waved his hand, as if to push away the thought. "Nothing, nothing. So you're the girl who patched up the old man, eh? Name's Fergus. Nice to meet you"

He offered his hand, and Stephanie shook it. His fingers were long, and his hand was rough - from gripping the sticks, she supposed.

"Stephanie. Don't suppose you two know where Carter is?"

Ron raised an eyebrow. "What? You just passed him"

Stephanie spun around, suddenly remembering Carter's face among the people she had just passed. Son of a...

"Wait, no, isn't that his doppleganger?"

Fergus looked at her quizzically. "His what?"

"You know, the guy that looks like him"

Fergus looked at Ron, who shrugged. "There's no one on board who looks even remotely like Carter, except maybe me, according to some"

* * *

Carter pushed the doors to the mess hall open, inwardly smiling at how few people were there. Most mercenary commands sort of relied on their commanders' charisma to keep its personnel happy, or loyal; but somehow, after the first few waves of personnel that left after feeling unsatisfied, everyone who had joined up seemed to have no troubles with never seeing the boss himself… quite the odd bunch, Carter thought, though he really couldn't complain.

Carter nodded at the mess officer, who nodded back and handed him a tray with today's fare on it. Carter grimaced.

"What on Terra has Igni have you pull out of the cargo bay?"

The mess officer chuckled "What, not heard of Triple F burgers boss?"

"I know what those are, and this isn't one of them"

"Nah boss, trust me - might have been smushed a bit in the cargo bay, but I'm telling you this is definitely the stuff"

"Hmmmmm... if you say so"

As he picked up the tray and started towards one of the empty tables, the doors to the mess swung open, and Carter saw Ron come in and point Stephanie at his direction. He waved at them, then sat down.

Stephanie sat across the table from Carter, watching him as he bit into the sandwich the mess officer had given him. Carter looked up at her

"I've finally found you - fuck, Carter, you really need to stop skulking in the shadows. I've spent most of my time in this ship thinking there was someone that looked like you"

"Ha, sorry. Anyways, it's been a while, Steph. Need something?"

Stephanie blinked; something about Carter seemed different, like he had the confidence to talk more.

"Yeah, I uh… I wanted to know if there's anything else I could do here? I realize that I'm trained in medicine, but I was thinking of trying something else"

Carter raised an eyebrow "Ian's bothering you that much, is he?"

Stephanie shook her head "No, no, that's not it"

"Hah, I know you better than that, and I know him well enough, I'd like to think. What's the problem?"

Stephanie rolled her eyes "What isn't? He's just been constantly yelling at me for every little thing, I'll have you know. Last week, I put some syringes down on a table, and he yelled at me 'why couldn't I put them closer to him?' What kind of asshole yells at someone for that?!"

Carter chuckled, but soon stopped under Stephanie's withering glare

"Hrm, well, Ian's probably just not sure what to do with you; you're the first new medical staff member in quite a long time."

"So? How's that a reason to yell at me so much?"

Carter raised an eyebrow, curious as to just how exactly Ian had been phrasing his complaints about her. He had a feeling he knew what was going on behind Ian's head… he shook his head

"Look, I can talk to Ian about this, and I guess I can have Jamison start teaching you about how the mechs work, but I do believe at the end of this all you'll still be working as medical staff"

"Hah, bet."

Carter laughed, the few people eating jumping at the sudden sound "Ha! Deal. What you got for me?"

Stephanie smiled mischievously. "How about I let you bring me on a date?"

* * *

Igni was on his way down to the mechbay to discuss some requisition forms with Jamison when he heard Carter's laugh, a distinct sound that somehow echoed ridiciously far in the customized dropship. He smiled - it had been a while since he'd heard Carter's laugh, even if he ignored the years he was 'retired.'

The doors to Jamison's office slid open, and Jamison slid in to see Jamison munching on something while he played on his computer. Catching sight of Igni, Jamison put the game on pause and swallowed, then waved him over.

"Hey Igni, what's up?"

"Just here to discuss some of the forms you sent over for approval. Do we really need that many new armor plates?"

Jamison sighed "All of our armor plating - while not standard for the mechs we mean to put them on, is in general the same across the Inner Sphere post-Succession Wars. The mech Carter kept with him uses a special kind that's lighter, but it uses a bit more bulk - if we try to apply any of the armor plates we have right now to Carter's mech it'll be difficult, and probably topple over from the weight difference; if we just swap it out completely his mech will be less protected over all. I know it's a hassle for you, but it'll help us out in the long run to keep some in stock… especially with all the new mech designs and redesigns popping out recently. Speaking of, you know if Carter knows? It won't do us any good to have the company commander unable to recognize threats on the field"

Igni grumbled "What, that there's a bunch of new death machines walking about? I doubt it - but I'd rather not be the one that has to compile a dossier on them"

Jamison laughed "Well, I'll see what I can do once we get to Outreach. I'm sure the technicians there have seen a bunch of the new designs, won't take too much to have them give us some documents. In the meantime, why don't you ask Carter to get back into the simulators?"

"Gods, I don't want to be the one who tells Carter he needs to practice"

"Well he sure as hell ain't gonna take it from anyone else"

"Can't we get one of the jocks to do it?"

"Ha! Like hell he's gonna listen to any of them - he could still probably wreck any of them in an Atlas with Joe's little old Locust"

"Hrmph. Fine. I'll tell him once we get to Outreach"

"Speaking of, how much longer is it again? I haven't been paying much attention"

"We should be arriving next week"

"Wait, what? No way it's been 7 months"

"Sure has… I'm surprised, the crew's already gotten used to Stephanie"

"You know as well as I do the kind of company Carter keeps, after all"


End file.
